


So Obvious

by protectmikasamuels2017



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Gen, Gladys ships Jarchie, Hard of Hearing Jughead Jones, Hospitalization, Injury, Kinda canon compliant, M/M, Observant Gladys Jones, Serious Injuries, apart from jarchie, kinda good parent Gladys Jones, well up unitl season 2 ep21
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-10
Updated: 2020-05-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:54:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24116851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/protectmikasamuels2017/pseuds/protectmikasamuels2017
Summary: Gladys Jones always had a philosophy of being honest with herself.And she was observant.So she knew things others didn't.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Jughead Jones, Archie Andrews/Jughead Jones, FP Jones II & Gladys Jones, FP Jones II/Gladys Jones, Gladys Jones & Jughead Jones
Comments: 2
Kudos: 92





	So Obvious

Gladys Jones always had a philosophy of being honest with herself. That philosophy usually didn’t extend to being honest with other people, but for as long as she could remember, she had made a point of being honest with herself. Which was why she never shied away from the fact that she would never win any parenting awards in this lifetime when it came to raising her children.

But in all honesty, neither would FP. And at least she wasn’t an alcoholic.

Children had never been a part of her plan for life, but she did love Jughead and Jellybean with everything in her. She definitely wasn’t the best parent, or even average at times. Sweet God, she had made some big mistakes with Jughead in particular after all, but for both of them she would cross lines and break countless laws. (She did wonder sometimes though, about just how FP would take it if he ever found out that she was the one responsible for Tall Boy’s disappearance and death shortly after Jughead’s tenth birthday. Just like she often wondered just how he’d react if he ever found out that Tall Boy was actually a wanted child molester in three different states and had been starting to get a look in his eye whenever he looked at their little boy.)

And she was observant. Especially with Jughead. He was her first born and while it may be cruel to say, up until she had left for Toledo, she had always known him better than she had Jellybean. She had watched him like a hawk during his younger years and as a result she knew things that FP, even with his position as Jughead’s favourite parent, did not.

Like how Jughead and Archie were definitely going to end up dating one another.

It was so obvious.

Because why FP was off wishing he was boning Fred Andrews (another thing that was fucking obvious), drinking his ass off and being leader of the Serpents, she was the one taking care of Jughead and later on, Jellybean. Which meant she had to listen to a lot of Jughead’s stories about what Archie got up to. And unlike FP who had already started his slide into alcoholism, she was mostly sober.

_“Mummy, mummy, guess what me and Archie did?”_

_“Hey mum guess what Archie and I did today.”_

_“Archie did the stupidest thing today.”_

The signs were always there. Jughead loved Archie just as much as he loved his beanie. Which Archie had gotten for him incidentally after he felt self-conscious about his hearing aid. She was going to be so smug when they finally got together. And she was going to deliver the best speech at their wedding. And what’s more, she was the only one who saw the signs. Fred seemed to have an inkling but still thought it was friendship only. And Mary and FP were so oblivious. But she, she was on top of things.

And it was so clear to see that that little redhead was head over heels for her boy as well. She still remembered one time when the boys were eight, Archie had sneaked over to the trailer park to see Jughead (and she had immediately phoned his parents to let them know where he was). Fred had come racing over to get him but had run into FP. The two of them had recently had their epic falling out and break-up of their friendship and seeing each other so soon after, especially with FP drunk off his ass had triggered an argument between the two men during which the boys had ventured outside away from the noise to continue playing.

So she had ignored the two moronic men who desperately wanted to fuck the other’s brains out fighting in her living room and watched from the kitchen window, a bag of popcorn in hand, as the boys were approached by Peter Brown, a boy whose family had moved to Sunnyside two months earlier. Peter and Jughead were friendly enough, bonding over a shared love of books.

She saw as Jughead invited Peter to join them in their game and while wary, Archie showed no problems with it. But she also saw the jealousy in Archie’s face and body language whenever Jughead and Peter would pair up. When they laughed about an inside joke. She knew that surprised the Andrews boy. She saw how defensive Archie got around Peter, insisting that Jughead played on his team instead of Peter’s.

Jughead didn’t have many friends on the Northside (although honestly it’s not like he had any on the Southside either. They were just friendlier to him here.). In fact his only other friends really were the Cooper girl and Keller boy. But even then, the person he was the friendliest to and wanted to spend most of his time with was Archie. Who clearly wasn’t used to sharing Jug’s attention and did not know how to handle it now that it was happening.

Jealousy was an ugly beast.

It didn’t escape her notice either during the following months about how Archie kept insisting that Jughead spent more time over at the Andrews’ house. Or the looks that crossed his face whenever Jughead talked about something that he did with Peter when Archie wasn’t around to play with.

One year later when the Browns moved out of Riverdale when the father had died of a drug overdose, she didn’t think that Archie could be any happier at the news.

X

Getting the call over a year after she had left Riverdale that Jughead was in hospital and had nearly been killed thanks to Penny Peabody and the Ghoulies had been the worst moment of her life. She had honestly thought there and then that she was having a heart attack.

So she had left Jellybean with her sister, giving her a half-assed excuse that she clearly didn’t buy and then she was on her bike and racing towards Riverdale.

FP hadn’t given too many details about what had happened to Jughead over the phone but what he did give painted an awful picture.

Jughead had sacrificed himself to try and save the Serpents and the Southside. Peabody, the Ghoulies and Hiram Lodge had all arranged to have him killed. He survived but was badly injured. FP didn’t give a description of said injuries; but she had grown up on the Southside. She knew what the Ghoulies were capable of. Had seen it first hand. 

By the time she had arrived in Riverdale almost a day had passed since she had gotten the phone call and she had no other information on Jughead’s condition. The wreck the town was in raised her eyebrows before she shrugged it off. The Northside could only treat the Southside like crap for so long before they had had it and fought back. And something must have happened to light that fire. And those Northsiders would have had it coming.

What she didn’t expect when she arrived at the hospital though was the crowd of people waiting outside Jughead’s room and only some of them she recognised.

Fred Andrews and Alice Cooper she recognised right off the bat, neither having changed much since she last saw them. Beside her mother was Betty Cooper, nearly unrecognizable from the last time she saw her. The girl was growing up to be a stunner. If it wasn’t for her trademark ponytail then she probably wouldn’t have recognised her. A dark-haired girl she didn’t know but who reminded her eerily of Hermione Gomez back when they had gone to school together was standing beside Betty, their fingers entwined tightly together.

Cheryl Blossom was another face she recognised and her presence was shocking. She had never cared for anyone whose name was Blossom and the last time she checked her son and the demon twins were not friends. They were his bullies usually. Them and the Mantle boy. Clearly much had changed.

Standing beside Cheryl was a group of Serpents. She remembered how she hit the roof when she had found out that FP had let Jughead join the Serpents, how he let Jughead join the one thing they had both sworn to keep the kids out of. Melanie had had to restrain her to stop her from driving to Riverdale and then murdering FP in secret. She knew them, their faces sparked memories of recognition but more than a year away had caused her to forget their names. Not that they were particularly important right now.

Betty was the first one to notice her approach and her noticing had her mother and her possible girlfriend looking up as well and soon enough everyone was turning to face her.

“Gladys” Fred greeted her as she came face to face with the man. Up close, he looked like he had aged years when it hadn’t even been eighteen months yet.

“Fred” she nodded curtly even though she had no desire to talk to him. There was only one person she wanted to see right now and he was here in this hospital because his father couldn't do one single thing right. “Where’s FP?” she added, waiting for the man to show his face so she could rearrange it.

“He’s in there with Jughead if you want to go in,” he added motioning towards the door on the opposite side of the corridor, it’s blinds pulled closed for privacy.

She ignored everyone else in the group as she walked through the door, including Alice Cooper’s obvious attempt at goading her into an argument. Just as she was closing the door behind her she heard one of the Serpents say “oh it’s not like you have a leg to stand on. Your husband turned out to be the town serial killer” and filed that away for future digging.

The room was bathed in a dim light and the noises from the various machines keeping her son alive filled the room. FP was there, standing against the wall, his head in his hands. Jughead was unconscious in the bed in the middle of the room, a tube in his mouth and roughly a dozen more tubes and wires coming out of him as well. And they weren’t the only ones in the room.

Archie was sitting besides Jughead, staring at his face like he would make him better by pure force of will, his hand intertwined with her boy’s. She was pretty sure that she could see tears on Andrew's face, but the light was too dim to tell properly.

Neither of them had noticed her entering.

So she moved forward and pulled out the chair opposite Archie and sat down. The noise had both him and FP looking up and finally noticing her.

“Gladys” FP greeted. Like he was surprised to see. Like he didn't think that she would have come.

“FP” she nodded, digging her nails into her thighs so she wouldn’t lose it at the man just yet. Not with Archie sitting on the other side of their badly injured son and with a whole group of people listening outside. One of which included Alice fucking Cooper. “We need to have a long talk later.”

Her ex-husband (well he would be as soon as they finally got the ball rolling on that divorce) just nodded at that. For a moment she felt them slip back into their old roles. How things used to be before FP let alcohol dominate his entire life and ruin their family. When they could have a whole conversation with just their eyes.

But for now, she gently took Jughead’s free hand in her own, careful not to dislodge the tubes coming out of it and placed her fingers inside his wrist at the pulse mark and let herself be calmed by beating of her child’s heart.

X

Hours later her and FP found themselves in an empty hospital room to talk in private, leaving Jughead with the Andrews, Betty Cooper and the girl who she found out was Hermione and Hiram Lodge’s daughter Veronica. She gave the girl a long look once she found that out. Her parents were the ones responsible for her son lying in hospital fighting for his life at this moment. The girl might claim that it was all her father, but she remembered Hermione from high school and she knew that all this had that bitch’s name on it, just as much as it did her husband’s.

Two Serpents by the name of Sweet Pea and Toni were with them as well and Gladys felt herself relax at that. Even if the Lodges tried something again, at least her son had some protection in that room.

“What are the doctors saying?” she spoke up. Her and FP were on opposite sides of the room, circling each other, like they were about to start fighting in a hospital. Part of her was tempted to, to embrace the rage that had been building up in her for years. The other part of her had just enough control to stop that part, aware that the last thing they needed was to be kicked out of a hospital.

“Most of his ribs are broken and those that aren’t, are cracked. He’s got a collasped lung and some internal bleeding but they think they’ve stopped that. He’s also got a dislocated knee, and a broken collarbone. It took more than fifty stitches to fix the mess that Penny did to his arm. They thought they would have to amputate it at first, it was so bad but thankfully it wasn’t necessary. He’s also got a hairline fracture in his skull that they’re monitoring as well. But they don’t think there’s anymore damage to his hearing” throughout the whole list FP’s voice had gotten tighter and tighter, coiled like a snake that was ready to bite and kill. He wasn’t the only one; she just needed to know what Ghoulies had helped to try and murder her boy and then she’d be ready to dispense some justice.

“They think he’s going to be ok. Should be waking up in the next few days.”

She hardly paid attention to that as she leant against the wall, already thinking about the long-term implications that Jughead’s injuries could have on his health going forward. Infections, injuries not healing correctly, therapy.

“Why’d you come back?”

She snapped her head up to FP in shock and saw him glaring at her with that, that _look_ in his eyes. The one that thought that she was in the wrong about something. That she was the bad parent in this situation. Not the one who let their son join a gang, who didn’t protect him against Penny Peabody, who didn’t try _hard enough._

“Are you seriously asking me that? _Are you seriously fucking asking me that?!_ My son was almost killed. He was attacked by Ghoulies and the Lodges and Penny fucking Peabody herself and you didn’t think I’d come back? Fuck you! He’s my son, my child, of course I’m going to be here!”

“Didn’t really care about him when he phoned you after my arrest asking to come and stay, did you?” FP challenged, taking a step closer to her. “Or when you left for Toledo the first time leaving him behind in Riverdale. You didn’t seem to care about him then.”

“You think I’m proud of that!” she snarled, pushing herself off the wall, one hand curling into a fist, the other hovering near her pocket for her knife. “I made a lot of decisions that I regret but that is at the top of that list. I had to leave him behind the first time, I had no other choice and the second time, I was trying to keep him safe. Unlike you I meant what I said about keeping the kids away from our life!”

And she meant it. All of it. When she had made the decision to leave Riverdale she had wanted to take both kids with her. But she didn't even have a GED from high school, which limited the type of jobs she could get. There was no way that she could be the sole breadwinner and care for two children by herself, not on the kind of money she would be earning. So she had made the choice to take one child with her, earn her GED and get a better job. Then she’d get the other child out of Riverdale and away from FP.

It was far from a perfect plan, but it was the only one she had. She had thought about asking her family for help but dismissed the thought. Her sister was a single-parent household as well and was living pay check to pay check, while her brother was a no-go. She wanted to leave Riverdale, partly because of FP’s drinking and partly to keep her children away from a life of criminal gangs. She was not leaving Riverdale just to do the exact same thing in Toledo. And she had threatened her parents from coming anyway near her or her family years ago when she had uncovered their plans to sue for custody of the kids and remove them from her and FP’s care. So she had dealt with it. Just like with her usual stunts, FP had never had a clue.

So she had eventually made the decision to leave Jughead behind with FP. He was the eldest after all and could take care of himself. And if push came to shove if FP’s drinking got worse before she was ready to bring him to Toledo, she was confident that the Andrews would take him in. It was only supposed to be for a few months.

And then a few days before she had received word of FP’s arrest, when Jughead had phoned and asked to come stay . . . she had to turn him away. George had popped up out of the blue with some criminal friends of his and she had gotten sucked into helping them. She had sent Jellybean off to stay with her aunt and cousins but if Jughead came then, then her brother would force her son into helping him too. And she would rather die than get him involved in gang activity. So she turned him away. It probably destroyed her relationship with her eldest for good, but she did it to keep him safe.

FP’s snort dragged her out of her thoughts and she reached into her pocket to wrap her hand around the steady comfort of her knife.

“Everything I’ve been doing I was doing to protect Jughead and Jellybean and give them a better life. It may not have looked that way at times but every decision I made was based on that. Every decision! And what were you doing? Oh I know. Drinking your ass off, dumping teenagers bodies in rivers, all that crap with the Serpents and Penny Peabody. And Jughead being a Serpent! What the fuck, FP!”

The man did look guilty at that, and momentarily she felt bad. He had been in prison when Jughead took the jacket and it had been out of his hands. But all it took to bring the anger back was to remember Penny Peabody and Jughead lying in bed just a corridor away.

“I want names” she snarled, FP’s look of guilt changing to one of surprise. “I know that the Lodges were behind this and that Peabody had a starring role, but I want a list of all the Ghoulies involved as well. Everyone who so much as touched a hair on his head. I’m going to make them pay.”

“I thought you weren't a member of any gangs any more” FP said quietly, cautiously moving towards her.

“I’m not” she shrugged, she was trying to be a good example these days after all, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t know people. And I’m willing to get my hands dirty this one time.”

“Mind if I help?”

Looking over to FP who had now halved the distance between them; she saw that his entire posture had now changed from worn and tired man, to protective father and leader that she always knew he was deep down. She missed that. 

“Appreciate it” she shrugged.

“The only Ghoulie I know who had a role in this for definite was Malachi,'' FP started, a dark look in his eye and she heard a growl slip out of her at the mention of the bastard. Oh she was going to make his end even worse than she had made Tall Boy’s. “From what I can gather I think it was about thirty Ghoulies up against Jug, so our best option is to go hunting and make them squeal.”

“Just like old times” she laughed, feeling a squirm of delight in her stomach when FP chuckled as well, crossing the final distance between them to stand beside her cautiously.

“Brings me back” he said with a tiny smile gracing his face. It was gone in a second, but the fact it was there in the first place was incredible.

“Thirty on one and he survived” she muttered, looking out the door and into the corridor. “He’s so God damn lucky.”

“He’s tough that what he is,” FP said proudly. “Just like you.”

“Like both of us” she corrected, because Jughead had more strength in his little finger than either of them did in their whole bodies. Like both of their strengths had combined tenfold in Jughead. He was without a doubt one of the bravest people she had ever known even as a child. 

FP didn’t say anything else and she didn’t bother saying anything either. Instead they just stood there in silence as the rest of the world went on outside the hospital room. There was so much to be done. They had to talk with insurers and make them pay up when the time came and find additional funds to cover the costs when the insurers would undoubtedly try and be stingy about it. They had to figure out how to help Jughead with his recovery process and where to go from here. FP was sober and getting himself back on track so they had to figure out a plan that was best both for them and the kids. Then they had to track down and make the bastards that hurt their son pay.

Speaking of figuring things out.

“So what’s the deal with Red and Jug?”

That got a laugh from FP. A genuine laugh. And then he turned to face her with a smile that she hadn’t seen in years.

“Oh, you’re not going to believe this,” he snorted. “They’re dating. Our boy and Fred’s boy. They have been for months. Can you believe it?”

Oh she fucking could.

And suddenly she started laughing. And she just couldn’t stop. It wasn’t funny, not in the slightest but she was happy. So damn happy.

“I always knew they were going to get together” she eventually said, fighting around her heaving breaths to say it.

“Wait what?”

“Oh come on,” she smiled, “it was always so obvious.”

**Author's Note:**

> In case anyone's confused, Melanie and George are the names of Gladys siblings here.
> 
> Ok I'll admit first off that I've never liked Gladys Jones even in season one. What kind of parent leaves town with one child and then leaves the other behind in a neglectful/abusive situation? And then turns them away when they phone you asking can they come stay? 
> 
> And then when Jughead was in hospital in season 2 I can't remember any mention of her asking about him. 
> 
> The only time I've liked her was in season 3 when she mentioned that she always thought that Jughead and Archie would get together. As a major Jarchie shipper that gave me so much joy.
> 
> It was actually really easy to write Gladys especially considering as I don't like her, but I'm kinda happy with the way she turned out here. I've tried to write her as a better parent than she is on screen and just give some reasoning as to why she just left Jughead behind. I've also tried to show the dark and cold streak that I think that both her and FP have considering that both of them were gang leaders on the show.
> 
> I might do a sequel to this as there was some things that I wanted to write about that I didn't get to here, but I might wait and see if people want one.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this!


End file.
